Clock Ticks on Sand for the South End

May will be a critical month in the quest for new sand to restore eroded beaches at the southern end of Ocean City.

That is the update Ocean City Business Administrator Mike Dattilo gave City Council at a public meeting on Thursday (April 25) at the Ocean City Free Public Library.

In order for the city to obtain permits and contracts to complete a beach replenishment project by summer 2014, the city will have to decide on a course of action within about a month.

Superstorm Sandy wiped out dunes at the southern end of the island and left streets and properties buried under layers of sand, but even before the October 2012 storm, the eroded beach disappeared during many high tides.

Dattilo said the city's best-case scenario remains the funding of a federal Army Corps of Engineers project. A $20 million plan to widen beaches between 34th and 59th streets in Ocean City was approved by the Army Corps but has never been funded. 

In an Army Corps project, the federal government pays 65 percent of the cost with the state picking up the other 35 percent. Of the state's share, Ocean City would be responsible for 25 percent. The arrangement allows Ocean City to enjoy the benefits of the ongoing project while paying just 8.75 percent of its cost.

The Army Corps returns every three years (pending approval of funding) for renourishment projects.

Dattilo said on Thursday that a new report on the status of Army Corps projects is due on May 1. While he said the Army Corps has not given any advance indication of Ocean City's status in the report, there is some chance that it could contain news on the south-end project.

He said that if the city does not hear from the Army Corps in May, the city is prepared to move forward with asking the state to participate in a state-local project with Sea Isle City and Upper Township (Strathmere).

He said the city is in frequent contact with state and federal legislators, and the mayors of Ocean City, Sea Isle and Upper Township have sent a joint letter urging funding of the project.

The state Department of Environmental Protection is forming a strategy for the entire New Jersey coastline, and federal disaster relief funding in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy could be a potential resource, Dattilo said.

In the meantime, the plan to protect south-end Ocean City beaches for this summer remains the trucking of 60,000 cubic yards of sand as a stopgap measure.

A protective berm is already in place, and about half of the contracted amount of new sand has now been dumped in mounds on the beach, according to Dattilo. It will take another week to 10 days to truck in the rest of the sand, he said. Then the mounds of sand will be spread across the beach.

After that work is complete, the city will look for continued opportunities to "harvest" sand from other Ocean City beaches and spread it atop the south-end beaches.

In an update on the north-end beach replenishment project currently underway, Dattilo noted more weather delays from a northeast swell earlier this week. 

He said "we're getting close" to missing a deadline to have the project done by May 25. He said the best-case scenario remains completion of the pumping by May 20 with another three days to remove the pipeline and demobilize the project. But he acknowledged there's some chance that weather and mechanical delays could push the project past deadline.

"It would not be the first time that we would have a Memorial Day Weekend with a project underway," Dattilo said.

See also: "Letter From Mayor: New Department Created and South-End Sand Requested"